Improved soap substitute for scouring woolens



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LOUIS WILMAN,.OF WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVED SOAP SUBSTITUTE FOR SCOURING WOOLENS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 17,303, dated May 12, 1857.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, Louis WILMAN, of the city of Worcester, in the county of Worcester and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Composition for Scouring and Fulling Woolen Cloth; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

The nature of my invention consists in the manufacture of a liquid compound composed of soda-ash, common salt, and the bran of coreals dissolved in water, which compound is not really a soap, but is employed as a substitute for and is superior to soap for scouring and fulling woolen cloth, flannel, 85c.

To enable others skilled in the art to understand and use my invention, I will proceed to describe it. i Into a metal kettle, boiler, or caldron containing one hundred and fifty (150) gallons of soft or rain water I introduce about thirty-six (36) pounds of the common soda-ash of commerce, eighteen (18) pounds of common salt, and ten (10) pounds of wheat or rye bran, and l boil them together until they are all commingled,'united, rendered into a mucilaginous state, and the air expelled from it. This solution or liquid compound is then allowed to cool and is fit for use, It is employed in the same mannar as soap now isfor'scouring and fulliugwoolengoods. Thequantityandtheproportions given will scour and felt aboutonethousand yards of goods known by manufacturers by the name of fancy cassirneres. These proportions, however, may be slightly varied. Oil is employed to mix with wool to fit it for carding, spinning, and weaving into cloth. All this oil has to be removed before the cloth can be napped or dressed or finished. Soap has been used and is now generally employed for this purpose, and is used in the stocks or fulling-mill, and it is also necessary to promote, or rather cause the cloth to felt. In scouring flannels after they are woven soap is also employed. My liquid compound described is designed as a substitute for soap for these purposes, and it is both cheaper and produces superior results to soap. Soap has a tendency to make cloth harsh to the touch and to injure delicate colors-such as scarlets and purplesin scouring. My'composition is not really a soap, but it answers the same object in scouring and fulling or felting cloth, and does not make the cloth harsh to the touch, but soft and agreeable, and does not injure the most delicate colors. The salt which is employed in it renders it somewhat sluggish orinert to act upon the cloth in the fulling-mill; but when the cloth becomes somewhat heated by the action of the stocks or fulling-beaters my compound begins to unite with the oil in the cloth, and forms with it a soapy action, a line lather, a beautiful felting action, removing all the dirt and grease, rendering the cloth, when washed, soft to the touch and without that disagreeable smell peculiar to soap-felted cloth, and at the same time it does not change the shade nor injure the colors of the cloth.

My composition is adapted for scouring and fulling all kinds of woolen cloth, flannel, &c. I am aware that T. Ohalkley Taylor obtained a patent for a soapy compound which contained bran; but his compound is entirely ditl'erent from mine in its nature. It would make cloth harsh and hard if employed for fulling, because it is a soapy composition.

I'do not claim the exclusive use of bran in my composition, as this has been known; but What I do claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is The i'ulling and felting liquid composition composed of soda-ash, salt, and bran, as described for the purpose set forth.

LOUIS VVILMAN. 

